politics
January 24, 2026
Ryan Wedding’s journey from Olympic snowboarder to alleged cocaine kingpin
The native of Thunder Bay, Canada, has been compared to Pablo Escobar and El Chapo – but is he really as big a figure as US prosecutors have claimed?
TL;DR
- Ryan Wedding, a former competitive snowboarder, is accused of leading a massive drug trafficking ring.
- US authorities claim his operation grossed $1 billion annually from cocaine sales.
- Wedding allegedly ordered murders, including that of a former associate turned informant in Colombia.
- A lawyer, Deepak Balwant Paradkar, is accused of advising Wedding to eliminate a key witness.
- Wedding was previously convicted of conspiracy to distribute cocaine in 2010.
- Some experts question the scale of Wedding's alleged enterprise, suggesting US authorities may be exaggerating for political reasons.
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